Casino landlord buying The Strat, other properties for more than $1B in leaseback deal
Casino landlord Vici Properties owns big resort sites up and down the Strip, from Mandalay Bay to The Venetian.
Now the real estate investment firm is expanding its holdings in Southern Nevada with another $1 billion-plus deal.
Vici announced Thursday that it is buying The Strat and six other casino properties from Golden Entertainment for $1.16 billion and leasing them back to Golden founder Blake Sartini, who, at the same time, is acquiring the company he leads and taking it private.
As part of the transaction, Vici also will assume and repay up to $426 million of Golden’s debt.
John Payne, Vici’s president and chief operating officer, said in a news release that the company has sought a foothold in the Las Vegas locals casino market since the firm was launched, and that the properties from Golden have “sticky, durable customer bases.”
As part of the sale-leaseback, Vici is also buying the real estate for the two Arizona Charlie’s properties in Las Vegas; the Aquarius and Edgewater resorts in Laughlin; the Pahrump Nugget; and the Lakeside Casino & RV Park in Pahrump.
Sartini’s initial total annual rent for the seven-property portfolio is $87 million, with the rent climbing 2 percent annually starting in the third year of the lease, according to Vici.
The transaction is expected to close in mid-2026.
New York-based Vici is the biggest property owner in Las Vegas’ famed casino corridor, with such holdings as Caesars Palace, MGM Grand, Luxor and other huge hotel-casinos along Las Vegas Boulevard.
It doesn’t operate any resorts here but collects rent from companies that do, including MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment.
Vici was launched in 2017 as a spinoff from Caesars and has vastly expanded its footprint through high-priced transactions.
It acquired MGM Resorts’ real estate spinoff in a $17.2 billion buyout. It also acquired The Venetian, Palazzo and former Sands Expo and Convention Center from casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp. for $4 billion in cash, as part of a $6.25 billion transaction.
Both of those deals closed in 2022.
Vici also took full ownership of the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay properties in 2023, acquiring investment giant Blackstone’s stake in those sites for almost $1.3 billion in cash and the assumption of nearly $1.5 billion in debt.
And, in late 2022, Vici announced it was providing up to $350 million — part of a $2.2 billion construction loan from multiple lenders — to finance the completion of the long-planned Fontainebleau Las Vegas, which opened in late 2023.
Overall, Vici now owns dozens of properties in the U.S. and Canada, including casinos, bowling alleys and golf courses.
The Review-Journal is owned by the Adelson family, including Dr. Miriam Adelson, majority shareholder of Las Vegas Sands Corp., and Las Vegas Sands President and Chief Operating Officer Patrick Dumont.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.
